Mental Unrest and Insomnia
One of the most common problems we encounter in our clinic is Heart Spirit unrest that causes anxiety and difficulty in falling asleep.
I want to share my go-to formula that is very strong and works directly. In this formula Western herbs are used in a tincture form. A tincture is made from herbs that are prepared in an alcohol solution. This provides a stronger effect that raw herbs or granulate.
We first need to define what patterns this formula treats. Heart Spirit unrest and insomnia can be caused by two different diseases. The one I am not going to discuss in known in T.C.M. as Liver qi Stagnation. This pattern has an alternating nature, where heat and cold are both present, but alternate between heat and cold. It is the heat that causes the Heart Spirit unrest and inability to fall asleep. In this pattern the person will often wake up in the middle of the night with heat effusion. This pattern is a disturbance in the Wood and Earth Elements. What I want to discuss is the Fire and Water disturbance.
In Chinese Medicine we work with images that convey ideas, I am going to use two different images to describe the internal dynamics of why there is Heart Spirit unrest and insomnia.
Fire and Water
The interaction of Fire and Water can be illustrated by the trigrams found in the I Ching. A trigram makes use of lines that represent the concepts of Yang and Yin. A solid line represent Yang and a broken line represents Yin.
The trigram of Heaven consists of three solid Yang lines.
The trigram of Earth consist of three solid Yin lines.
When we discuss bodily problems the trigrams of Fire and Water are most often used because they convey the interaction of Yang and Yin better than Heaven and Earth.
The energetics of our body can be described by the expression, “rising, falling, entering, and exiting, belongs to vessels”.
The trigram of Fire contains one yin broken line in the middle. The trigram of Water contains one Yang solid line in the middle.
These two forces of nature interact and influence each other. This interaction is described by the text “That which is connected to Earth will descend, and that which is connected with Heaven will rise”.
The Yin middle line in Fire is connected to Earth. The Yang middle line in Water is connected to Heaven. We can visualize this by imagining the sun shining on the seas, which creates movement of the water, which then rises up to heavens, only to cool of and descend as rain over the Earth. This is the same in our body and this daily movement, when disturbed causes a separation of the Fire and Water Elements. This separation has two different outcomes. One outcome manifests as a cold pattern, and the other as a heat pattern.
Cold and Heat
Fire and Water correspond with the Heart and Kidney organs in Chinese Medicine. The Heart and Kidneys belong to Shao yin in the Six Conformation theory. Shao yin is internally and externally connected to Tai yang. Tai yang and Shao yin represent all the Yang and Yin of the body. When there is a separation of Yang and Yin in these Conformations the disease can only manifest in two ways. One is a cold pattern, and the other is as heat.
In a cold pattern there will be a thin weak pulse, a desire to sleep, and aversion to cold.
In a heat pattern there will be a thin weak (maybe rapid) pulse, an inability to sleep, and aversion to heat.
Treatment
Zhang Jiebing comments on chapter 68 in The Yellow Emperor’s Classic Plain Questions, which gives us a treatment strategy that we use all the time without realizing it.
He comments, A successful therapy may be directed at the root, at the tip, or at the middle.
This is based on the relationship between the Six Climatic qi and the three Yin and three Yang.
Zhang Jiebing, The three yin and three yang qi have the six qi as their root, the six qi have the three yin and three yang as their tip.
The Six Climatic qi give birth to the three Yin and three Yang.
Tai yang, Yang ming, Shao yang, Tai yin, Shao yin, and Jue yin correspond to with the Climatic qi.
The Climatic qi are cold, dryness, fire, dampness, heat, and wind.
This text describes the relationship between the Six Climatic qi and the three Yin and three Yang.
The Yellow Emperor’s Classic, In tai yang cold rules, in yang ming dryness rules, in shao yang fire rules, in tai yin dampness rules, in shao yin heat rules, in jue yin wind rules.
The Yang levels are coupled together with the Yin levels.
Zhang Jiebing, Shao yang and jue yin are interior and exterior couples. Their qi communicate with each other. Hence each has a central qi which is rooted in the other. The basic qi of shao yang is fire.
The reason is, when the six qi have developed to a certain degree it can often be seen that they turn into their opposite.
The Yang and Yin couples can be represented like this.
Tai yang cold and Shao yin heat form a couple.
Yang ming dryness and Tai yin dampness form another couple.
Shao yang fire and Jue yin wind form another couple.
Notice the balancing nature of each of the Climatic qi in the couples.
Cold, and heat
Dryness and dampness
Fire and wind
Zhang Jiebing,
In terms of the qi that appears in the middle,
When the shao yang arrives the fire comes to life and in the middle there is wind.
When the yang ming arrives the dryness comes to life and in the middle there is dampness in the middle.
When the tai yang arrives the cold comes to life and in the middle there is heat.
When the jue yin arrives the wind comes to life and in the middle there is fire.
When the shao yin arrives the heat comes to life and in the middle there is cold.
When the tai yin arrives the dampness comes to life and in the middle there is dryness.
The Yellow Emperor’s Classic chapter 68.
Shao yang and tai yin transform from their root
Shao yin and tai yang transform from their root or their middle.
Yang ming and jue yin do not transform from their root or middle, but from their middle.
The Shao yin and the Tai yang manifest as disease according to their root or middle.
The root of Shao yin is Yin, and its middle is heat.
The root of Tai yang is as Yang, and its middle is cold.
This is why diseases of the Heart and Kidneys can manifest as cold or heat.
Formula
All that just to introduce a formula that works on Heart heat, that causes insomnia and mental unrest as anxiety.
This is a Jeremy Ross formula, from the Big Book Combining Western Herbs and Chinese Medicine. Hat tip Jeremy.
Lavandula, 1 Slightly warm, aromatic, bitter, slightly pungent.
Valeriana, 1 Cool, bitter, sweet.
Anemone, 1 Cold, bitter.
Glycyrrhiza, .5 Neutral-cool, sweet.
This is a neutral-cool formula, but can be used for heat patterns. For cold patterns replace the Glycyrrhiza with Zingiber.
Use 5ml one hour before bed. The dose can be increased to 7.5ml if need be.
Conclusion
Heart Spirit unrest and insomnia are not simply symptoms to be suppressed, but signals that the deeper relationship between Fire and Water has become disturbed. By understanding this dynamic through the lens of Chinese medicine-root, manifestation, and middle-we gain a precise and powerful way to intervene. This is why this formula is so effective: it does not merely sedate the mind, but directly clears Heart heat while respecting the delicate balance between Yin and Yang. In clinical practice, this approach consistently brings calm to the Spirit, restores natural sleep, and gently reconnects Fire and Water so that rest arises naturally once again.
